The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 9, February 29, 2004, Article 5
SALMON P. CHASE INFO SOUGHT
Stefan Herpel of Ann Arbor, MI writes: "I am a lawyer and
graduate of Michigan Law School, and am doing research for
an article on Salmon Chase and the Legal Tender Cases.
I have been stymied in my search for a source of a particular
anecdote about Salmon Chase and the greenback notes that
were put into circulation in 1861, under his stewardship as
Secretary of the Treasury. I was wondering if you have any
ideas about where I should look.
Somewhere last year, I read that, after passage of the first
Legal Tender Act in 1862, Chase made the decision to put
his own portrait on the $1.00 note and Lincoln's on a higher
denomination note (I believe the $10.00 note), and that he
defended that decision by telling somebody that Lincoln was
of higher stature than himself. Since the $1.00 note circulated
more widely than the $10.00 note, the implication was that
Chase's real reason was to get name recognition to promote
a presidential run. Phelps' biography of Kate Chase suggests
that Kate perceived this benefit from his portrait on the $1.00
note.
I thought I had read about Chase's decision and his defense
of it in Arthur Nussbaum's book about the history of the dollar,
but I was mistaken. I have since searched long and hard for
the source of this information, to no avail. None of the three
20th Century biographies of Chase mentions it. I did not find
it in Burton Hendrick's "Lincoln's War Cabinet," or in Bray
Hammond's "Sovereignty and an Empty Purse." It is not
reported in Macartney's book about Lincoln's cabinet, or in
Umbreit's book about the chief justices, or in Mitchell's history
of the greenbacks. It is not in Fairman's long essay about the
Legal Tender cases in the Holmes Devise History of the
Supreme Court, and is not in his biography of Justice Miller,
or in Swisher's biography of Justice Field. It is not in Donald's
biography of Lincoln or in numerous other biographies of
Lincoln that I have looked at. I have not looked at Otto
Gresham's and Unger's books about the greenbacks, and will
try them.
Can you possibly suggest other books or articles that may
elaborate on this anecdote? Thanks for any help you can
provide."
[I'm not sure of the source of this anecdote, either. Can
any of our sharp-eyed readers help? -Editor]